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Friday, April 12, 2013

An Interview with Kat Grey

This is an interview
with Katherine “Kat” Grey, the heroine of my novel The Coven: Fire and Ice and human love of Maximilian “Blaze” Ward. Deeply
affected by the suicide of a girl she once bullied, Kat turns her life around
and vows to become a better person. She takes a stand against bullying and is
not afraid to fight for what she believes in.

Enjoy!

What is your family
like?

My parents are Claire McDonough and Nicholas Grey. They
divorced when I was younger. I’m super lucky because they still get along
really well. A lot of my old friends in Cali have divorced parents that hate
each other. I’m glad mine aren’t like that.

My mom is wise, warm, funny, and a terrible cook. After she
and Dad divorced, she moved to Massachusetts and pursued her dream of becoming
an artist. She’s pretty successful and her paintings are really amazing. It was
a little awkward at first when I moved in with her, but now we‘re super close.
I’m glad she’s in my life now – I can talk to her about anything.

I miss my dad Nick like crazy since I moved to Massachusetts.
To a lot of people, he can be downright intimidating – big time lawyer, Harvard
grad, dyed-in-the-wool Republican. It’s funny to me because I know him as this
goofy guy who loves practical jokes and fishing. He can be a little
overprotective at times, but I guess that’s what dads do.

What is the thing you
are most proud of?

The GED tutoring program I started at Mercy House. Mercy
House is a home for runaways, mostly abused teenage girls who got mixed up in
drugs and prostitution. My friend Bronwyn and Q [a member of the Brotherhood]
tutors there too, as well as some other kids from Milton Academy. The first
group of girls I worked with all just earned their GEDs last week – that was an
incredible feeling.

If you had a day to
do anything you wanted, what would you do?

Riding horses with Blaze at his family’s lake house. It’s
the most peaceful place in the world. I always ride Ariel, a gray Arabian. Blaze has a black stallion named Baltazar.
He’s had Baltazar since he was a foal and they’ve literally grown up together –
it’s really sweet.

If you could
apologize to someone in your past, who would it be?

Too many to count. I hurt a lot of people back in California
by being a bully. I’ve been able to get in touch with some of them on Facebook
and stuff, but some people won’t respond to my messages. I don’t blame them;
I’d probably be skeptical too if I was in their shoes.

What is your most
prized possession?

My talisman* that Blaze gave me. It’s a gold necklace with
rubies. It’s really extravagant so I mostly just wear the main ruby on a plain
gold chain. I never take it off, because it makes me feel close to Blaze. That’s
because the ruby carries his essence – he’s never far away from me when I have
it on.

What do you find
really grates on your nerves?

Stuck up, pretentious people who think that they are better
than everyone else. Don’t get me started.

What is your greatest
fear?

I’ve got two. The first is Blaze getting hurt – or worse –
fighting in the Brotherhood. It’s something I have to deal with on a daily
basis and I try really hard not to think about it too much. He’s a great
fighter, but I still obviously get worried. My second greatest fear is not
living a meaningful life. When I say “meaningful”, I mean not making a positive
impact on the world. I think it would be terrible to die without having made at
least one person’s life better.

*In the world
of The Coven, a talisman is a piece
of jewelry, featuring a jewel that contains the warlock’s essence, that a
warlock often gives to the woman he loves, be she human or witch. When the
woman wears the talisman, the warlock can sense her emotions, be alerted if she
is in danger, communicate with her telepathically, and envelop her in a magical
defensive shield even when he is not physically present